Destined Crossroads
by Fawkes Kleiffen
Summary: A certain raven-haired boy arrived in the Kalos region, a region ripe for the adventuring, when something strange happens just before he chooses his starter. What's so unique about a red lucario? And why are their destinies intertwined? Read to find out!
1. The Shattered Jewel

The Kalos Region.

Like many other regions, a beautiful place where people and Pokémon live in harmony, reflecting each other's thoughts and feelings. When people smile, Pokémon smile. And when Pokémon cry, you'll find that people cry as well.

And here, a certain young man is about to arrive at Professor Sycamore's Pokémon Laboratory. A young man seeking new dreams, and new adventures.

Standing in the biggest city in Kalos, Lumiose City, was a young man who looked about 15 years old. He had on a blue jacket with white highlights, a dark blue shirt underneath the jacket, navy blue pants, black and red shoes, black and red fingerless gloves, and a red hat with a white half-Pokéball symbol on it. He also had a hopeful look on his face. On his shoulder, a yellow rat with three brown stripes on its back going perpendicular to its spine, two red spots on it's cheeks, and a tail that looks like a thunderbolt.

He walked into the building, and was immediately greeted by a small library with a couple of researchers here and there reading on a few different topics while other researchers were carrying small Pokémon through hallways, doorways, or using them to look for specific books to read.

Honestly, it just looks like every other laboratory in the world, the kid thought.

"Ash! I've been expecting you!" the child heard from one of the hallways to his left.

Ash looked for the source of the voice, and he sees Professor Sycamore, the lead professor of the entire Kalos region. He was in his mid-30's with wavy black hair, wearing a blue dress shirt underneath the signature white lab coat that can be seen on any professor known in this world. He also had on a pair of black pants and a yellow belt holding it up.

"Welcome to the Kalos region, Ash! Quite different than Kanto, isn't it?" Sycamore asked.

Nodding his head, he said "Quite, Professor. It seems that each new region contains its own share of adventures, with new places to explore, new friends to make, and new Pokémon to befriend."

"Quite so, Ash," The professor says with a smile on his face, his hand scratching Pikachu behind his ear, earning a content "CHAAAA-aaaaaaaaahhh…" from the little electric mouse. "And speaking of Pokémon, why don't we get you set up with another starter Pokémon?"

"Yes, I do believe it is time." Ash responds.

The Professor then steps aside, and reveals three Pokéballs on the table.

"These are the three Kalosian starter Pokémon; the Fire-type Fox Pokémon Fennekin, the Grass-Type Spiny Nut Pokémon Chespin, and the Water-Type Bubble Frog Pokémon Froakie."

Ash thinks for a while, and after looking at all three Pokémon, something nagged at the back of his mind.

Suddenly, he felt nauseous, and grabbed onto the table.

The professor's face went from a patient look to one of worry. "Ash, are you alright?"

Ash takes a few deep breaths. "Prof…" He takes a few more. "I'm not…"

And that's all he can muster before he blacks out completely, the last thing he hears is his best friend trying to get his attention before he's lost to the swirling void of his mind.

* * *

Ash wakes up to a black void, with a feeling in the pit of his stomach similar to that of someone free-falling, yet he felt no rush of the wind past his ears.

He looks down, and he sees a platform of some kind. He feels as if he's moving at a thousand miles an hour, yet the platform he's falling towards makes it look like he's slowly floating down, at around 5 miles per hour.

Then, he touches the platform with his feet, and he sees the three Pokémon standing before him. Then, they immediately evolve into their final forms, yet with slight alterations.

Greninja was in his usual ninja stance, except he was holding a sword made of three different materials. One side of the sword was made of a material that glowed a bright white, the other side was a dark purplish-black material, and instead of a normal cross-guard and handle, it was two razor-sharp spiked pointing outward, and a third going down the handle that the Ninja Pokémon was holding, as if he were combining the moves Cut, Night Slash, and Water Shuriken into one sword.

Delphox was in her usual stance, looking slightly to the left with a smile on her face, and a huge yellow tail with a red 'dress' made of her fur covering her midsection and feet. Except instead of a stick or a branch in her hand, she had a staff made of a wood-like material that had a pointed bottom section, and two branches forming out of the one for the top foot and a half, which then split into four smaller roots that held in place a perfectly cylindrical Ruby approximately four inches in radius.

Chesnaught was standing tall and proud with his fists ready to strike, and he smiled in a bloodthirsty-like way that made you think that he was born for battling, and that he knows nothing else. He was his usual white and green body, but instead of a cream-colored shell, it was a blackish color that reminded Ash of obsidian, and the spikes on both his shell and his arms, as well as his claws, were pure diamond. Guess that explains why he had that smile; he thought he was indestructible.

Suddenly, a powerful being appeared. It was a huge, white being with a blue scarf, and a body that reminded him of an enemy that he used to read in a book when he was younger. It had a strange symbol on his forehead as well; a four-sided throwing star with an upside-down heart as the bottom piece.

The three of them turned around to face this being of great power, and got in their battle stances.

The being looked at them, and then at Ash.

No, not looked. He glared at him.

And Ash knew that he was coming for him.

The three Pokémon noticed this, and as the white being reached out to a petrified Ash, the three Pokémon leaped into action.

Delphox started chanting a spell, Chesnaught positioned himself between the being and Delphox, and the Greninja leapt at the being in an attempt to keep it distracted.

However, before any of the Pokémon could do anything, the huge being unleashed a flash of bright light that blinded the four. Once they could see again, Ash saw the three Pokémon held in the air, their hands and feet stuck to four balls of whitish-lavender orbs, unable to do anything. The huge being then closed it's hand, reeled back, and struck each one of them, earning cries of pain.

As they were struck, the orbs holding them in place seemed to have disappeared, sending them flying backwards and into the void.

However, just before they could get too far, the being then stretched out it's arms long enough and fast enough to grab all three of them, instantly halting them and giving them whiplash, and bringing them back to the platform and the great being. It then threw them up in the air, causing all three of them to give cries of fear as they were thrown upwards at incredible speeds. Noticing how high she was getting, the Delphox pressed its dress between her legs to keep Ash from seeing under it. On their way down, the being looked like it was ready to throw something. As the Pokémon were on their way down, the being then swung it's arm down, both hitting the three Pokémon and increasing their speed, damaging them from both the impact with the being's hand and the platform itself, causing the platform itself to crack around them.

Ash looked at the three Pokémon on the ground. Chesnaught's shell had cracks in it, the diamond spikes cracked and broken in several places. Delphox's dress was in tatters, her staff snapped in two as the ruby stone rolled over to Ash's feet. Greninja's sword was broken in the three pieces, and those pieces further broken into shards of their former forms.

Ash looked upon all of them with hopelessness. If these three Pokémon, who were at their final evolutions, couldn't stop the great being in front of them, then what hope did he, a normal human being, have?

Suddenly, a bright light shone on Ash, causing the great being to shield its eyes and back up, causing it to trip over itself and fall over the edge of the platform.

Then, a majestic woman's voice spoke to Ash from the source of the light, which was too bright for him to see, saying "If you had the power to save these Pokémon… would you?" the being asked. Before Ash could respond, the voice also said "Think before you speak, for your answer may induce actions whose consequences you may not like."

And without a moment's hesitation, Ash said "Yes, I would. Helping others is what I do on a daily basis. I would give my life if it meant someone else would live."

"What are you called, child?" The mystical voice asked.

"My name is Ash Ketchum, Champion of the Orange Island League, first victor of the Battle Frontier, and Aura Knight-in-training."

"Ash Ketchum…" the voice repeated. "Sounds like an appropriate name. However, I think 'Chosen-One' has a better title than the others."

Ash kept looking up at the bright light as he said this, and an object starts floating down from the light source. As it gets closer, he can start to make out what it is. It gets within reach, and he can make out a black and grey device with gold trimming similar to the Unova Pokédex, yet instead of the bottom half being just the grey casing, it has a completely black casing with a rainbow-colored symbol that completely matches the symbol on the being's forehead, except this one was upside-down.

The mystical voice then said "Use this HeartDex wisely, Chosen-One."

Ash reaches out to grab it, yet before he does, he asks "What does this… 'HeartDex' do?"

The voice goes quiet, then the female voice says "See for yourself."

The voice goes quiet, and just as Ash grabs the Fusion Loader, the light disappears, and the laws of physics applies to the device in his hand.

There's two buttons on the device; a blue button in the shape of the symbol on the white being that feared the light, and a Pokéball button. Pressing the third button, the device pops open, scans the three Pokémon, and deposits this information:

 **Delphox, the Fox Pokémon. Using pyrokinesis, it generates a fiery vortex of more than 2900 degrees Celsius, incinerating foes swept into this whirl of flames. It can also gaze into the flames started by it's Flame Staff to achieve a focused state, which allows it to see into the future. This Delphox is female, and has the ability 'Magician', which allows this Pokémon to steal an item from an enemy that it hits with an attack. This Delphox is Female, and has the ability Magician.**

 **Greninja, the Ninja Pokémon. It appears and vanishes with a ninja's grace. It toys with it's enemies using swift movements, while slicing them with throwing stars it creates from compressed water. Thrown at a high enough speed, these stars can split metal. This Greninja is male and has the ability 'Protean', which allows it to change it's typing to the move it last used. This Greninja is male, and has the ability Protean.**

 **Chesnaught, the Spiny Armor Pokémon. It's tackle is forceful enough to flip a 50-ton tank. When it takes a defensive posture with it's fists guarding its face, if can both withstand a bomb blast, and shield others from the same blast. This Chesnaught is male, and has the ability Bulletproof.**

 **Lucario, the Aura Pokémon. It has the ability to use a unique power called Aura, which resides in all living things. It can sense the aura of others around it, allowing it to see what it normally couldn't with just its eyes. They can use Aura for offensive and defensive moves, and to also sense the thoughts and emotions of those around it. This Lucario is Female, and has the ability Inner Focus.**

Ash looked around, and saw that the only things around were the giant white being towering over him, the three Pokémon that were lying at his feet, and himself…

But as he looked around, his eyes were suddenly fixated on the ruby sphere lying at his feet from the staff of the Delphox.

Reaching down to grab it, he stopped when he heard Delphox make a pleading sound while looking at him, as if he shouldn't do what he was supposed to do.

But every cell in his body overrode those thoughts as he picked up the sphere.

Immediately upon contact, he could feel the power oozing from the sphere. He looked at it, and he could see a small, black silhouette in a meditation pose, floating in the middle of the sphere.

As he held the sphere, the HeartDex started to glow a dim red glow before the black turned to crimson, and Ash closed his eyes as a single word repeated itself in Ash's mind.

Opening his eyes, he then said "Ruby."

Immediately, the being obtained glowing red eyes as the sphere shattered, covering the entire area in a white flash that lasted for all of two seconds.

As Ash could see, he looked upon the magnificent form of a Lucario unlike any other; Instead of a blue color scheme with the tan chest, she had red in both places. Her eyes seemed to be carved from rubies, and the spikes at her chest and hands were made of pure gold.

She took one step forward… and then promptly collapsed into the floor.

Before the white being could do anything, Ash was already by her side. Ash put his left hand to her back and his right to the back of her head as he closed his eyes, his blue aura pulsing into the Lucario as he could sense her lack of energy.

It took all but three seconds for her own aura to accept his, but then it started gaining a red-like infection as it spread through his aura into his body. His vision gained a red-like tint for a split second before going back to normal.

The Lucario was trying to get up, to which point Ash grabbed onto her right arm and helped her stand. When she stood, a slight blush on her face, she nodded to him, causing him to let go of her as she stood on her own, hunched over. Within seconds, he heard a low growl, which quickly turned into a loud scream of rage as she roared into the darkness above, creating a pulsing wave of red energy that caused Ash to stumble onto his rear end.

The great white being just stood there, either unimpressed or uncaring, as he was unaffected from the aura pulse. Then, a flash of white blinded everyone again, and when Ash found his sight again, he saw the same situation that the three Kalos starters were in before; the Pokémon was suspended fifteen feet above the platform, spread-eagle, with wrists and ankles held firm by balls of energy.

Out of mild curiosity, Ash looked at the back of the HeartDex, and found a camera on the device. Pointing at the great being, the device scanned the being, and spewed out some information.

 **Twilight Thorn, a Giant Nobody with multiple thorns and strong fists. It has the ability to dodge many enemy attacks and to summon Creeper Nobodies to his side and to create a huge ball of energy, which he uses to throw at his enemies.**

After the Dex said this, the being, now known as Twilight Thorn, took a closer look at the red being in front of him, then reeled back his fist in an attempt to punch the Lucario just like he did the other three Pokémon.

But what Thorn didn't expect was the fact that that she swivelled her body around her left arm, keeping that one orb from moving, and somehow managed to hit the fist coming at her with an even greater strength than Thorn anticipated. This caused thorn to spiral backwards into the void behind him about thirty feet away from the platform before he stopped moving and regained his balance.

He then extended both his hands towards the Lucario, and dispersed the orbs holding her in place by grabbing her and throwing her into the darkness above them.

Doing the same as before, Thorn prepared to slam her into the ground on his way down, but yet again, he wasn't prepared for the red Lucario's counterattack.

The red Lucario started gathering energy into her fist as she reached her highest point from the throw, and just before Thorn could impact her, she summoned a giant fist made of pure red aura, which she used to pummel Thorn into the ground just before altering her body's angle to land on her feet, which cracked the platform even further and caused no damage to the Lucario herself.

The Thorn fell face first into the platform at the opposite end of the platform from Ash, and then he fell off the platform itself.

Thinking that it was over, he sat down and brought out the Heartdex. He was about to press the red button again, but the Lucario growled, and started to look around as if she were confused.

Ash looked at her, confused, before bringing up the HeartDex and said "Twilight Thorn."

The information he learned earlier pulled up, and as he was reading through it, one section of the information confused him slightly.

'…creates a huge ball of energy…'

 _'Wonder how long it takes to charge up an attack that sounds that powerful.'_

Unfortunately, he was about to find out.

As soon as he thought that, the platform tilted rather quickly, causing Ash to tumble down from the center to the edge of the platform.

Just before he fell over the edge, the Lucario grabbed onto Ash's left arm while punching a Metal Claw into the platform to slow their descent. Once they stopped sliding down the platform, which was just inches away from the edge, she roared in anger and strain. He looked over, and the Thorn was on the other side of the column that the platform they were battling on was on, along with a huge ball of energy bigger than he was. He cocked it back, prepared to throw it, and probably kill Ash and his new Pokémon.

Ash looked down at the fusion loader, and he figured that this was more of an emergency than anything.

Ash pushed the blue button.

It was surrounded by a mystical white light for a split second, and then it elongated to about four feet long before the light was absorbed into what was being created, and then Ash found himself holding a four-foot-long blade that looked a little bit like a blade, a key, and a pokemon he'd only seen a couple times before.

The weapon he was holding was mainly white with a golden circle about seven inches in diameter with two golden parenthesis on either side connected by four golden spikes, and where the spikes met the parenthesis, four jewels were fused into the gold; one green emerald, one red ruby, one blue sapphire, and one yellow amethyst. The "blade" itself reminded him of the Legendary Pokémon Arceus, with a gray patch of metal about six inches long three inches from the handle, and half of the crossguard symbol on the end to make it look somewhat like a key as well as a sword, except it's got another spike protruding from inside half of the golden circle, and crossing over Arceus' forehead. And even though he's seen Arceus before and she never had one, her muzzle was golden on the blade.

As he was holding the blade, he was filled with confidence. She noticed this, smiled, and started swinging Ash back and forth a little. Ash noticed this, caught on to her plan, and he swung himself forward, into the void between them and Twilight Thorn as the Twilight Thorn threw the giant orb of energy at Ash.

Pulling back his arm, he used his own momentum to throw his KeyBlade at the orb with even more force than him swinging at it could, which caused the orb to explode with energy, knocking Ash back with a little bit of force, and throwing the Twilight Thorn into the void.

Somehow, as they were falling further down into the void, they hit another platform that looked exactly like the one they were fighting on. Both Ash and the Twilight Thorn hit the platform on their back, and a few seconds later, Ash found the Lucario landed on the platform on his feet and helped Ash up to his own. Looking at the Twilight Thorn, it steadily got to his own feet, and turned around to face them.

Suddenly, the three Kalosian starters fell onto the platform, all in their battle stances as they faced the Twilight Thorn. Chesnaught had his shell fixed, Greninja had his sword repaired, and it seemed like the Magic Staff Delphox has re-grew itself. As they all took us their stances, the keyblade dissipated in a flash of light to reveal a small chain around his left wrist that sported a small keychain with a symbol that was the exact shape, albeit slightly smaller, of the symbol on the back of the HeartDex and the forehead of the Thorn.

The Twilight Thorn then started stumbling around in place like a drunk person would, and then it started to dissipate into black orbs as it fell over, completely dissipating before it hit the quadet.

However, once it completely dissipated, a dome of bluish-black energy formed around the platform. Then the energy started to slowly creep towards the center, trapping the four.

Delphox threw a flamethrower at the dark barrier, however it did no damage, the flames turning into black as soon as it touched the barrier, and travelled up the flamethrower like a flame to a hose shooting gasoline. As soon as the black energy touched the Staff that Delphox shot, the pokemon froze in place, the black energy beginning to surround the pokemon. Once it was engulfed in energy, it dissipated into more black energy, which continued to spread at an even quicker pace.

The remaining four were surprised, and started backing away from the darkness, Greninja staying close to Ash while Chesnaught was trying to bat away the darkness with a couple Vine Whips.

Unfortunately, the darkness clung on to one of the vines as it was being withdrawn, which started crawling it's way further up the vine like a virus of some kind, turning the Kalosian Grass starter into more black energy.

Greninja started firing short bursts of Hydro Cannon, and somehow held up the most while the red Lucario fires Aura Sphere after Aura Sphere at the void, somehow slowing it down yet not stopping it. Suddenly, Greninja jumped up to avoid the black void from touching his feet, yet miscalculated as he jumped right into the roof of the dome.

Ash and the red Lucario were back to back in the middle of the platform, the darkness closing in on them from all sides.

Ash clenched his fists. He started to get angry. Angry that after all he did, after finding out he could do all these things, after battling something nobody could've dreamed of, that he would be defeated. And just as he was about to come up with a couple more ideas on how they could defeat Thorn, his only weapon to help defend himself disappeared on him.

He turned around to look at the red Lucario, and she turned around to look at Ash. And Ash saw something in her that he didn't expect at this point.

A need to keep him safe.

As if she wanted to protect him more than herself.

And then it started to grow in Ash, turning his thoughts from anger to courage.

This Lucario didn't want him to die.

There's no reason why he should give up.

Then, a red-black fireball ignited and floated between the two, and the darkness stopped it's advance as if it were afraid of this light. Ash looked around at the darkness that stopped, then back at the Lucario, her own confidence building up Ash's.

Ash smiled, and so did the Lucario.

Taking a second to think, he said "Ruby… I choose you." Ash said, holding up his hand to one side of the flame.

The pokemon smiled, one of pure joy, happiness, and something else that he didn't catch as she brought up her canine hand to the other side.

Then, as one, they brought their hands towards each other, touching the red-black flame and grasping each other's arm, causing the red-black fire to explode around them, destroying the darkness and turning their vision white at the same time.

Suddenly, Ash opened his eyes, and found himself in a room he didn't remember entering, lying in a bed he didn't own, with an IV in his left arm connected to a heartbeat monitor on the left side of the bed.

It was a simple room, a queen-sized bed, a desk next to a window, and a set of double doors about five feet away from the bed.

He looked down to the foot of the bed, and saw his little Pikachu sleeping peacefully.

Looking over to his right, he saw a bulge underneath the sheets, the sheets rising and falling slightly as a slight snore came from the bulge.

Lifting up the sheets, he saw something that made his heart leap for joy.

Lying on her side, cuddled up to his side, was a small red and black riolu, with pieces of gold along her forearm, and a band of blue around her neck while her eyes were a crimson red to match her fur.

He smiled at the sleeping pokemon, a blissful look on her face. He decided to see if he could get a couple more hours of sleep after that, and wrapped an arm around the little riolu, only to have the riolu snuggle into him slightly more as she smiles in her sleep.

The next morning, he was leaving the Professor's lab out the front door after explaining everything to the Professor. Unfortunately, he couldn't make the device or the key-blade-thing reappear, so he didn't really have any proof of what he dreamed of. This, in turn, caused him to shrug his shoulders and pretend that it was all a dream, opting not to tell the professor in favor of not being sent to the nuthouse.

Coincidentally, he also found a small steel chain wrapped around his left wrist with the same symbol as both Thorn and the HeartDex dangling from it; a constant reminder as to what happened in his dream, one that he couldn't take off his wrist no matter how hard he tried.

Ash took a deep breath, and started walking towards the Lumiose City Pokemon Center to have him registered to the Kalos Gym Challenge and Kalos League, then off to the Lumiose City Gym to challenge the Gym Leader there.

He looked over to the Riolu walking beside him, a happy expression in her eyes, though he wasn't quite sure why.

They passed by many shops on their way to the lab. Clothing, jewelry, accessories, candy…

Ash stopped at the candy store when he heard a "Pika!" from his starter on his shoulder. Looking to his side, he confirmed that she wasn't walking with him.

Looking behind him, he saw that she had her paws against the glass of the jewelry store. Walking up and looking inside, he saw that she was looking at a ruby in the shape of a teardrop, attached to a silver chain.

Staring at the ruby, Ash notices that it looks awfully familiar. Reaching down to pick up Riolu, Ash turns her to look into her eyes, and something clicks in both his mind and his soul.

He reaches out to her paw, his mind unknowingly reaching out to her own, and their auras fuse together as their minds form a mental bridge. His eyes momentarily flashing red while hers momentarily flashing blue, he then heard a new voice in head.

 _…shiny…_

Shaking his head, he looked left and right to find the owner of the voice, sounding like it belonged to a small female child, before the voice spoke again.

 _…shiny… stone…_

Ash looked back at Riolu, and saw her looking at the pendant again while still in Ash's arms.

 _Is that… her? No, it can't be. Sure, she's looking at the ruby in the shop, but I must b-_

 _…ruby?_

His eyes widened as he finally put two and two together as he looks down at the red riolu in front of him.

"...A Ruby is a type of jewel that is found underground. They aren't the most common of the jewels that can be found, but they're far from the rarest."

 _I like rubies._

Ash just chuckles, and says "Yeah, they are pretty great. C'mon, my little Ruby. Let's get to a Pokémon Centre. I might've slept the last two days, but I feel like taking a quick nap before starting on our journey."

Ruby, now catching onto the nickname that he gave her, gained the biggest smile she could possibly muster before hugging her trainer in a tight, yet loving embrace.


	2. Test of Friendship

_**WHAT'S UP, BITCHES?!**_

 _ **Yeah, unless I get some feedback from that, I'm going to start off my intros just like that from now on.**_

 _ **So, a few quick developments; I'm not setting a schedule for updatinng this story or my others. I'm going to work on them when I please, and I'm goijg to promise you that only Arceus calling for me will stop me from updating, in which case I'll have a friend of mine post said update of my untimely demise on this story and all my other ones. In which my last dying request will be for him to finish the stories in his or her own way.**_

 _ **Ok, enough with that depressing shit: on with the story!**_

* * *

Reflection cave.

A cave known to house mirror-like crystals, and each one said to be a gateway to a mirror dimension.

A cave that houses an endless labyrinth filled with these crystals that have known to make seasoned trainers wander for days, sometimes weeks, before finally finding the exit again.

A cave that currently contains our noble hero as he searches for a way out of this labyrinthian cavern…

* * *

"So… This is the alleged 'keyblade wielder?' How pathetic."

Ash froze, listening for the mystical voice echoing off the walls of the cave he heard mere seconds ago as both he and his pikachu, which was perched on his shoulder, tried to identify the source.

After a couple seconds of listening, with nothing more for the voice to say, Ash started to walk a bit more slowly as he tried to listen for the origin of the voice.

One of the mirrors somehow caught his eye, causing him to start walking towards it. As he stood in front of it, the mirror started to ripple like water, and a figure in a black cloak rippled into existence behind him in the mirror.

Sensing danger behind him, he twirled around, Pikachu sparking some electricity from his cheeks, only to be met with nothingness.

"And here I thought that you were going to be a challenge for me and my organization."

As he tried to pinpoint the source of the words spoken to him, he saw that twelve more mirrors adopted similar-looking black-cloaked beings. Each mirror he looked at with one of these beings had the background behind each one completely different. Flames, the night sky with a moon, a thunderstorm, alternating playing cards…

Before he could look at any other, he heard a "Pika!" coming from his shoulder at the same time that a weight was being lifted off of it. Turning to look at his friend, he found that his friend was no longer there. Looking back at the first mirror, he saw that the hooded figure had Pikachu in his arms, shaking off the electric blasts Pikachu was giving him like it was nothing.

"It seems like you care for this creature. I wonder… what would you do in order to get him back?" the voice said, seeming to come from all the crystal mirrors.

Ash's face twisted into one of anger, and his hand reached into his pocket, grabbed his Pokédex, and pressed the key button, surrounding it in a flash of light before it turned into the Arceus blade.

Slashing it in the air, it created a wave of energy that connected with twelve of the thirteen mirrors, instantly breaking their connection and returning them to just crystals.

He looks back at the first mirror, and he sees that Pikachu was gone.

"If you wish to see your partner again, then prove to us that you can survive without him. Return to home after your current journey is complete. We are eager to watch your progress."

The mirror then starts to crack in a few places before completely shattering into millions of pieces, the pieces scattering across the floor of the cave as the area is returned to silence once more.

* * *

 _ **~~~4 Months Later~~~**_

Ash stood at the entrance of Pallet Town in Kanto, a triumphant look on his face.

"We made it," he said, with a smile on his face.

Ruby, now a full-grown Lucario, smiles at his happiness, something that he showed very infrequently these days. Not like he hid the reason why.

Putting a paw on his shoulder, she smiled as he turned his head over to look at her, and, through their aura bond, she said ' _I missed your smile. I wish you did it more often.'_

He looked into her eyes and said "Well, it's a good thing my reason to smile, however few and far between they have become lately, is still standing beside me."

A blush coming across her face, he leaned down and gave her a quick, yet passionate kiss. As soon as their lips ceased contact, they continued their walk towards his mother's house, her head leaning against his shoulder while his arm was wrapped around her waist.

They were a mere twenty seconds away from reaching the front door when suddenly, Ruby stopped, her smile fading as she said ' _Ash, there's a lot of auras coming from that house, and there's more negative energy surrounding those who are positive.'_

Frowning as he let go of her, he activated his own aura sight, his eyes flashing red as he saw 13 auras, 9 of which were a culmination of yellow and red.

Reading her trainer perfectly, Ruby closed her eyes as she closed her eyes in concentration. A couple seconds later, his Greninja silently appeared out of his pokéball and his Gardevoir teleported to his side.

They slowly snuck up to the house, and that's when they started hearing yelling.

Ash signaled for his Pokémon to surround the house, and they took off; Greninja hopped onto the roof, landing softer than the morning breeze, Gardevoir crouched next to the ajar front door that lead to the living room where the shouting was coming from, Ruby snook her way towards the backdoor that was opened, and Ash silently approached the cracked window that lead to the living room.

He linked his battle-bond he had with Greninja with both his psychic link with Gardevoir and his aura bond with Ruby so that they could each hear and see everything that the others could.

And then they heard the worst conversation they ever heard.

* * *

 _ **~~~3RD-PERSON-POV~~~**_

"You know, same as I do, that his win against Diantha was a fluke." Paul said to Dawn, his voice rising with his anger.

Dawn stared him down, and said "And what proof do you have? Ash has become more skillful with every single region that he travels to, and it all paid out in the end. Isn't that right, Clemont?"

After a few seconds of silence, she looked over at Clemont, who looked conflicted.

"Well?" Dawn asked.

Bonnie looked up at her brother and asked "Why aren't you defending Ash, Clemont?"

He looked down to his sister and said "All throughout our journey, and through his others as I'm hearing from the other people in this house, he's always jumping head-first into danger, and dragging his traveling companions with him through it. Hell, his own Pikachu was turned to stone on our journey, and I heard that he was turned to stone when he traveled to the Tree of Beginning, or something like that. He's reckless and arrogant, and I don't think he's a good role model for you anymore, Bonnie."

Upon hearing that, Bonnie pushed off her brother and said "How dare you say that about your friend! What did he ever do to you that would cause you to say such horrible things about him?"

Clemont's face turned one to anger as he said "How about the time when he decided to meddle with Team Flare? A good twentieth of the population of Lumiose City died that day, and you were almost killed as well. How about when we came across Diancie and he decided to help her out? His recklessness cost his own Pokémon to be turned to stone. How about when he was chased by Team Rocket every damn day of his journey through Kalos with us? How about when Team Rocket captured you and Serena? THAT ENOUGH PROOF FOR YOU?!"

A random Caterpie seemed to slip in the window and watch the whole conversation unfurl without anyone knowing that it was there, and then Max came out of nowhere and punched Clemont in the face, causing him to hit his head on the wall behind him. Max then walked over to Clemont, put his foot on his chest, and said "I could care less if you were a gym leader yelling at a random trainer. I could give less if you were the champion of a region giving some tough love to a fan. But you are the big brother to that little girl over there that doesn't even have a trainer's license yet. You yell at her one more time…" he throws a Pokéball in the air, which summons his Gallade, and he continues with "…That'll be the last time you can speak." Unknown to him, yet completely evident to Clemont as he was the only one looking into Max's eyes at the time, his eyes flashed a dangerous blue for a split second before going back to their regular color.

Clemont simply nodded his head, which was enough for Max to release Clemont. He turned around, only to be hugged fiercely by a sobbing Bonnie. After the second of surprise, he hugged her back with equal vigor, and said "Let's go outside."

As soon as they're out the front door, Clemont tries to follow, but is stopped by an arm that belongs to a blonde-haired kid in an orange jacket.

At the same time, Cilan comes from the nearby hallway following the sound of a flushing toilet, and gives a surprised look to the orange-jacket kid. "Trip? W-w-w-what are you doing here?"

"Hey guys! Lunch is…" a teenager with squinted-eyes wearing an orange shirt and green vest comes in from the kitchen with a tray stacked with sandwiches followed by Iris and Shauna. Unknown to most, Shauna and Trip share a split-second look, making Ash curious as the rest of the scene played out.

"…served." The squinty-eyed teen finished.

Trip looked at the teen, and said "Brock. Did you know?"

The teens stared at each other before Brock sighed, set the tray of sandwiches down on the table, and said, "Yes, I knew, Trip. And I think it's the right thing to do."

"…the right thing to do?... Are you kidding me? Betraying you best friend is the right thing to do? Telling the person that helped you to start fulfilling your dream to give up on his own is the right thing to do?" Trip yelled, his voice getting louder the longer he spoke.

He looked to Cilan and said, "And you agree with this?"

Cilan looked down to the floor and rubbed the back of his neck.

He whipped his head to the four behind Brock and asked "How about you? Do you four agree?"

Three of the four immediately looked down to the floor. Shauna, however, walked over to trip, smiled, and summoned Florges from her Pokéball while turning around and facing Brock and the three girls.

* * *

 _ **~~~OUTSIDE~~~**_

Leaving the scene as it was for now, Ash was curious about where Bonnie and Max went off to. Switching his sight over to Greninja, he looked around the front to find that Max and Bonnie were sitting on the front porch, Bonnie leaning into Max's arms.

"It's settled then. We'll wait until they're done fighting, and we'll run away together, starting our journey together. With what I know about Pokémon, and what you know about the Kalos region, I think it would be best if we went there." Max said, lightly stroking Bonnie's hair.

Bonnie smiled, and said, "Thank you for agreeing to this, Max."

 _Alright, I think we've seen and heard enough. Meet at the front of the house ASAP as quietly as possible._

He then cut the connection, and then snuck his way to the front of the house, catching the two lovebirds out front still sitting on the steps, with Greninja crouched between them and the door, and Gardevoir on the other side of the porch.

Suddenly, Max looked at the ground to his right, where the shadow of the house, and the occupant on the roof, was. He then turned to look up at the roof, stopping to glance at the red Lucario for a split second. Jumping up on his feet and turning his entire body, he also spotted the Greninja crouching on the roof. Reaching for his Pokéball, Ash decided that he should step in before things got too hectic, and said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you, Max. Greninja can both dodge almost any attack and shoot one right back in a split-second."

Max turned to see Ash, and he ran over to hug him only to be hugged back. "Thank you for defending a friend." He stood there for a few extra seconds before he heard more shouting coming from inside the house, and then he said, "Now, if you'll excuse me, Max…" he let go of the 12-year-old, and glared at the house while clenching his fists and saying "I have some housecleaning to take care of."

Ash walked up to the front door and looked at Greninja. _Surround the house,_ Ash thought. _Anyone wants to enter or leave, ask me first. We're going to have a conversation about this, and I intend for it to be a big one._

He looks over at Max, and says "Go to Oak. Tell him to round up all my Pokémon, and have them in their Pokéballs within the next half hour. Let him know what's going on, he'll understand. If he refuses, or demands any further explanation, tell him it's time. He'll know what it means. Ruby, go with them; help keep them safe."

Once Max and Bonnie were off, he threw out two more Pokéballs, and out came his Serperior and Charizard. He looked at Serperior and said "Serpentina, snake your way towards the wall on the western side of the house, and remain next to the window. Once Grace gives you the all-clear, smash into the window and go into standby mode. As of right now, everyone in there is a possible threat."

As Serperior snaked her way to the window, he then turned to Charizard and said "Alduin, I know that you still think that you let me down. Well, today, I'm going to say that we can start completely over if you want. Some 'friends' of mine think that I should quit on my dream. A couple of them, I've helped complete theirs."

Alduin growled with anger, and glared at the door.

"No matter how this goes down, buddy, we won't be coming back here for a while. And since that's the case, I want you to do me a favor, ok?"

Charizard looked at him.

Ash grinned and said "Kick the door down."

* * *

 _ **~~~MEANWHILE~~~**_

Inside the living room, Dawn, Trip, Shauna and Alain were basically surrounded by Brock, May, Misty, Paul, Cilan, Iris and Clemont, their arguments going back and forth seemingly going in a circle.

That is, until the draconian roar came from the front of the house, and the front door exploded, causing Brock, Misty and May to jump out of the way of the biggest pieces.

Once the splinters stop moving around, the three on the floor got up and stared at the immensely powerful Charizard standing in the front door.

The Charizard took a few steps in the house, growling at everyone in the room, analyzing the situation, unsure of which side was for his trainer and which side was against him.

After he was a few feet in, his trainer walked in, his azure eyes piercing the looks he was getting from everyone.

He walked over to Trip, setting down his pokedex on the kitchen counter as he passed it, and stretched his left hand out in a handshake. Once he accepted it, Ash said "Thanks for defending me for me."

Trip smiled a bit, and said "Thanks for helping me see that I was wrong last year in Unova."

Ash smiled in acknowledgement, let go of the handshake, and spun around on his right foot to punch Brock square in the jaw.

After the doctor-in-training landed on his rear, Ash said "That was for spitting on my name and thinking that you could come into MY home and thing that YOU know what's best for ME. And for thinking that you could convince everyone here to have me GIVE UP ON MY DREAM! A dream that has already been accomplished, just so you know."

Everyone looked at him with puzzled looks.

He looked around at everyone and said "What? You guys didn't know what I did at the Lumiose Conference?"

Clemont said "Just because you made Champion doesn't make you a Pokémon Master."

Ash chuckled, and said "That's not what I meant. Sure, I beat the Lumiose conference, the Kalos Elite Four, and it's Champion in front of a live audience, making me the first to beat Diantha in five years. But that's not what I'm talking about."

 _Get in here._

Suddenly, Gardevoir teleported to his side, Serpentina slithered in from a window on the eastern side of the house, and Greninja stepped in through the back door.

Focusing solely on Greninja, his Pokémon was suddenly surrounded in a sphere of pulsating water for ten seconds before being absorbed into a small, two-inch sphere on it's back for a second before it became a pressurized water shuriken about two feet in radius, and it's appearance changed slightly to resemble Ash just a little bit; it's eyes turned red, he grew three black spikes on both sides of his head to look like Ash's hair when his hat was on, and a red spike grew on his head that took on the same shade of red as Ash's hat.

Clemont was the only one who looked unimpressed, while everyone else looked surprised. Cilan glared at Clemont and said, "You didn't tell us that his Greninja could do that!"

Paul then said "Anyone in their right mind who knows Ash would watch all his Conference battles no matter the region he was in. But to witness the transformation in action… that's something else entirely. Something that someone I know would be very interested in…"

Both Ash and Greninja looked at Paul, and before they could say anything, Paul said "Ash Ketchum, I challenge you to a battle. One on one, out front, right now. No-holds-barred, first to faint loses. Game?"

Ash looked at Greninja, and they both nodded to each other. "Deal."

Ash turned towards the door and took a few steps before several things happened at once;

First, Ruby came rushing through the opening where the front door

Second, Charizard growled at something behind Ash.

Third, Ash was flung forward into Ruby with an extreme amount of force, all his Pokémon rolling with him.

Steadily getting up, though with slight difficulty as Charizard landed on him, he heard a voice, deep and ancient, say "So… This is the one who has potential?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Ash saw that the owner of the voice had a black cloak that surrounded him.

"What a shame…" the voice said. "And here I thought we could be friends."

Pushing off the ground a few more feet, Serena managed to crawl right out from underneath him, and he said, through gritted teeth, "Who… are you?"

The being in the black cloak put his foot on Charizard, and applied enough pressure to cause Ash to struggle even further as he said, "My name is of no importance. It has been a long time since I abandoned my true name."

Suddenly, Ash pushed off the ground with all his might, throwing the man off balance, and Charizard was thrown to the left a few meters, surprising Ash. The mystery man took this opportunity to summon a huge grey being with circular legs, robot-looking arms, and a huge weapon that looked like a double-sided hammer.

The being smacked Ash in the side, propelling him through the open entryway, and into the living room, of which pools of complete darkness suddenly appeared around Ash, and arms and hands made of the same type of darkness shot out from the pools, and held down Ash before he could have the chance of getting back up.

Snapping his fingers, a 6-foot-tall egg made of pure darkness appeared, and Bonnie, Max, Professor Oak, and Tracey were thrown out from it before it disappeared just as quickly as it formed.

Several beings, some grey, some purplish-black, teleported in the room. A few beings threw Gary and Professor Oak out the back window where several other beings teleported in and grabbed them.

Several other portals of darkness appeared, and a few other beings clad in black cloaks similar to the first being, all with assorted weapons of interesting design in their hands, appeared out of them before they closed up once more.

One being grabbed Brock and Dawn, threw them against a wall, and fired a few darts at them before they hit the wall, pinning them against the wall that they were thrown at. Snapping his fingers, a few more beings were summoned, these with a slight pink tint to them. They immediately threw Max and May into a corner and surrounded them.

The same lumbering giant that smacked Ash back into the house came in and backhand-slapped Iris across the cheek, sending her flying into Cilan and Clemont, causing all three of them to fly into another one of the lumbering giants, the impact knocking them out as they fell to the middle of the floor, unconscious.

The second lumbering giant raised his weapon to deflect a Hydro Pump sent by Misty's Gyrados. He then turned around, and threw his weapon like a spear, hitting the Gyrados straight in the jaw, and sending it flying at Misty, hitting both her and it's pokeball at the same time, knocking Misty back to the ground, a nasty welt on her head, and she fell to the ground unconscious as the Gyrados went back into its pokeball.

Bonnie was the only one left standing, and the first hooded figure walked towards him, both his hands reaching up for his hood.

Pulling it back, he was revealed to be a man with silver hair.

Immediately, a single name was whispered into his head, in a voice that he's heard only once before.

 _ **Xemnas.**_

Ash looked at all the other beings, and he heard the same voice whisper a single word that varied depending on who, or what, he was looking at.

 _ **Assassin.**_

 _ **Sniper.**_

 _ **Demyx.**_

 _ **Xigbar.**_

 _ **Roxas.**_

 _ **Berserker.**_

Then he remembered where he heard this voice before.

He looked over to the counter, where he set his pokedex down as he entered the house to confront everyone, and he remembered when he was last confronted by any being that was different shades of grey.

He poured some of his energy into his left hand, and felt a magnetism being created between his hand and the pokedex. To everyone able to watch, the pokedex started to jiggle on the counter a bit, slowly inching its way towards the edge until it suddenly floated off the counter and sped towards his hand faster than anyone could see.

Ash caught it, and immediately he was surrounded in a flash of light, dispersing the hands that held him down. He got up as fast as possible, and the pokedex was surrounded in a bit of light before it turned into the Arceus Blade.

Through gritted teeth and furrowed eyebrows, his eyes shone with an infernal glow like the fires of hell as he said "Get out of my house."

* * *

 _ **OK, so how was that? Your comments here really help myself grow as a writer, and that will allow me to pump out chapters with better quality.**_

 _ **'Till next time!**_


End file.
